Confederate Defenders at Fort Gregg: April 2, 1865 by Bill Furr

Editor’s Note: Bill Furr, who owns and operates the excellent 19th Mississippi Infantry Regiment web site, was kind enough to grant me permission to publish his research into the names of men who defended Fort Gregg. Bill spent a great deal of time reading through primary sources to find the names of men who could be positively identified as having defended Fort Gregg on April 2, 1865. He then cross-referenced those sources and listed which sources gave specific soldiers’ names. Bill also corresponded with John Fox while Mr. Fox was writing The Confederate Alamo: Bloodbath at Petersburg’s Fort Gregg on April 2, 1865.

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I summit the following summary of my research regarding the defenders of Fort/Battery Gregg. Various sources list the Confederate forces defending Fort/Battery Gregg as follows:

Harris’s Brigade

12th Miss

16th Miss

Lane’s Brigade

33rd NC

37th NC

Thomas’ Brigade — various units

Third Company Washington Artillery

Chew’s 4th Maryland Battery

Donaldsonville (Louisiana) Artillery

Walker’s Supernumerary Artillerists (aka Walker’s Mules)

Surgeon George W. Richards

Cross referencing the various references to casualties and prisoners, I have calculated the total force as 216 (57 killed, 129 wounded, and 30 unhurt). The various claims as to who was there add up to much more than that as follows:

Harris’s Brigade — 10 to 250

Lane’s Brigade — 75 to 180

Thomas’ Brigade — 20

Artillerists — 64-65

An admittedly incomplete list of defenders follows (the numbers after the name indicate the source):

I read with interest Mr. Furr’s article regarding Fort Gregg and who fought there. My Greatgrandfather, William Wallace Sibley, fought for the Confederacy in the 12th Mississippi and was captured on April 2nd 1865. The 12th Mississippi, being in Petersburg for some time I feel like he was among the captured at Fort Gregg the day of it’s capture. He was sent to Point Lookout Maryland where he was until his release in August of that year. While I have no other documentation other than that gathered on muster rolls to document his location of capture other than Petersburg I feel he must have been at Fort Gregg.

I highly recommend that you purchase the book Confederate Alamo by John Fox III. In one of his appendices, I believe he tries to identify who was there. Your ancestor was almost definitely captured in the vicinity of Fort Gregg, and possibly in the fort itself, given the date of his capture and his unit.